One by one, Michele Nagamine singled out staffers and supporters who've been along for the sometimes-bumpy ride during her time as coach of University of Hawaii soccer — and at 14 years and counting, that was no small list.

A special occasion, the program's first Big West championship, seemed like a good time to break out the thank-yous.

Her Rainbow Wahine earned it — and the accompanying No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament — with a 2-1 win at UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. It meant that UH will host the conference semifinals and final at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Nov. 7 and 10, with the winner headed on to the NCAA Tournament.

"I'm so stoked for the fans. I really want to give a shout-out to everyone at home," Nagamine said in a post-match video call with Hawaii media. "Thanks everyone for sticking with us, believing in us and never giving up on us. Especially when we were 2-6 (to start the season). We really want to thank ... everybody who's rallying and working so hard for us."

UH had never before finished with better than the No. 4 seed for the tournament, but it is locked into the top spot with 22 points with senior night Thursday still to come. To put that into context, the Wahine have rarely qualified for the tournament at all; this is just the third time in a dozen Big West seasons that it made the cut. One year, 2015, UH went 0-8 in the Big West as part of a 14-loss season.

"We're going to enjoy this," Nagamine said. "This is for everyone who has been patient with us and just hanging in there for all of these years. So mahalo plenty and we not pau yet."

UH (11-7-1, 7-1-1 BWC), a second-half team all season, rallied from a goal deficit at halftime with a tying score by Fabiola Zamora on a putback in the 68^th minute. It then got the winner on a header from Nalani Damacion in the 83^rd.

The Rainbow Wahine posed together with a Big West champions sign on one side of the pitch at Theodore Harder Stadium as UCSB proceeded with its senior day ceremony.

UH's soccer's last conference championship, tournament or regular season, came in the Western Athletic Conference in 2007. That remains the program's only NCAA appearance to date.

UH, coming off a 3-1 loss at Cal Poly on Thursday, regrouped on the run in Central California and spoiled senior day for UCSB (6-5-8, 4-2-4). The Gauchos had a couple of cracks at an equalizer in the final 10 seconds, but Zamora made a save at the goal line and goalkeeper Kennedy Justin fell on a shot by an unmarked Gauchos player at the horn.

Zamora had the rare trifecta of a goal, an assist and a save.

"When Fabi scooped it off the line, I said, 'not today. Not today,'" Nagamine said. She called the versatile Zamora, a junior from Cupertino, Calif., her woman of the match. "She changed the game for us."

Nagamine had sensed her team was a bit flat coming into the game, especially in the first half when UH conceded a left-post goal from Olivia Howard inside the box in the 20th minute. At halftime, she told her team to focus on neutralizing the UCSB midfield.

"To see the way that they rallied tonight and just closed the door, clawed their way back ... it was so incredibly surreal to see this team finally get what they deserve, which was the regular-season championship," Nagamine said.

With the Wahine down midway through the second half and staring at the prospect of needing a result at home against Long Beach State on Thursday, momentum suddenly shifted. A shot on the run from Brynn Mitchell was not fielded cleanly by Gauchos goalkeeper Sabrina Hinz and Zamora was in position for the chip-shot putback for her third goal of the year.

A draw would’ve clinched at least a share of the regular-season title and the top seed via tiebreaker, but UH was not satisfied.

"Once we tied it up, I could see that the momentum shifted and the lights went on," Nagamine said. "There was zing and zest in our step and I think they just dug into the reserves and pulled out whatever guts they had left. ... They really did step up and show us all what they were made of tonight."

Zamora sent a free kick into the box and Damacion, the national leader among freshmen in game-winners, notched her seventh of the year by heading it cleanly into the top left corner.

Damacion moved into a tie for fourth place on the Wahine career winners list, behind only Natasha Kai (23), Arlene Devitt (nine) and Tiana Fujimoto (eight).

So far, only UC Davis (5-2-2, 17 points) has clinched a Big West tournament appearance besides Hawaii; four spots are still up for grabs. UCSB has 16 points, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Bakersfield have 14, and UC Irvine has 13. The top two teams get a bye into the semifinals and the remaining four most play a first-round match hosted by the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds.

Note: This story has been updated with an interview with UH coach Michele Nagamine and details.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.